Simon Lawder wants to challenge vested interests through the prism of the thriller

Category: conspiracy novels

Simon Lawder has specialized in exploring the very real threats we may one day face from political and vested interests, seen through the prism of a series of fast-paced thrillers.

Now, he wants this blog to kick off discussion on a topic that he finds fascinating.

His big question is this: Can the power of well-written fiction help to bring about change?

Can it be a force for good?

Which fiction writers can we name who have left the world in a better place?

Who has tried and failed?

Why? What works and what doesn’t?

Discussion

“We’re all intelligent, and yet. On the face of it, everything we believe we know about powerful social issues is fed to us through news channels, headlines, opeds, so-called exposés on our screens or social media messages. We’re so bombarded that it’s impossible, even if we could find the time, to filter out all of the trash, the blatantly biased and the downright untrue.

“So, we tend to fall back on what ‘people like us’ say and think. We vote that way, we talk that way and, guess what, ‘people like us’ are just as confused by what they hear, what they read and what think ‘people like us’ are thinking.

“So it’s hardly surprising that those in power, and those who crave power spend so much time and money feeding us what they want us to hear. Protest groups are characterized as crazy lefties, outsiders, disruptors, or worse.

“In my short writing career, I’ve attempted to expose issues that really worry me – foreign agents inside government, corrupt power-crazy business leaders, the undiscussed danger of Christian extremists – through the prism of an entertaining, at times wacky, at times kind of erotic thriller.